The Tree of Life
by bluebarnowl
Summary: The Tree of Life is under threat. Enemies are revived. Truths will be revealed. Love, fear, sadness, and happiness. The Bells hold the key. Artemis, Mother Nature's heir, will save the Tree. Discordia is still alive. Jack Frost will have to face two things. His son, Mordred, and a ghost from his questionable past. Artemis will also face some ghosts of her own. Sequel to ROMN Part2.
1. The Bells

_We begin the first piece of our puzzling story with a piece of the past from the Tree of Life. _

_Life was simple and happy for the fairies that lived at the tree. Love, kindness, and happiness was very abundant in the air. Four bells stood ready for anything. Gold, Brazen, Iron, and Silver._

_Oh, hear the mellow wedding bells, golden bells. What a world of happiness their harmony foretells. Through the balmy air of night, how they ring out their delight. Through the dances and the yells and the rapture that impels. How it swells, how it dwells, on the future, how it tells. From the swinging and the ringing of the molten golden bells. From the rhyming and the chiming of the bells. _

_Every month, two fairies were married. And when the two golden bells were rung, fairies from all around the tree would hear it and their joy would burst through their hearts. Each fairy would send a beam of light into the air and no beam was the same color. The lights created a giant shield that protected the tree. Each light regenerated the shield, giving it more energy. The shield kept out a dreaded thing, so horrible and feared, that not even Pitch Black would use. _

_Darkothus. _

_Darkothus, or Dark for short, kept anything or anyone it touched immortal and in eternal pain and torment. It was a dark slime with a purplish outline. One day, the bells had to taken down to be cleaned and recoated in gold. Two fairies had gotten married and no fairy knew when to fell the joy of their love. _

_That was when the Darkothus struck. _

_Two children were playing tag when one of them, stepped outside of the shield. The Dark wrapped it's sludge around the ankle of the unsuspecting child. She did not know what was happening until it was too late. She frolicked back inside the shield and she screamed as she felt he Dark spread throughout her body. The excruciating pain she felt. _

_You all must know that fairies are indeed immune to time, but not to injury. Her scream filled the air with fear. Every fairy heard it. They knew hat was happening. The Dark quickly spread, but it was struggling. The joy in the air was still there, but the Brazen bells that were now beginning to ring, was helping that joy disappear, making the Darkothus stronger. _

_Hear the loud alarm bells, the Brazen bells. What a tale of terror now their turbulency tells. Much too horrified to speak, for they can only shriek. For all the ears to know, how the danger ebbs and flows. _

_The fairies that had wings leapt into the air, hoping to escape their inevitable fate, for the Darkothus struck out. And any fairy it touched, would fall to the ground, in pain. But those without wings, stuck helplessly on the ground, knew there was no hope. They simply took it. Fighting it would only make the Dark spread faster. But the fire fairies were not being consumed because the fire brought warmth. _

_The winged fairies, leaping higher, higher, higher with a desperate desire, were all touched by the Darkothus, not knowing that they were in a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire. But this was happening because of the clamor and the clanging of the bells._

_The Iron bells then rung out. Hear the tolling of the bells, Iron bells. What a world of solemn thought their monody compels. For all the sound that floats, from the rust within their throats. And the fairies sit and groan in their muffled monotones. And the tolling, tolling, tolling feels a glory in the rolling. From the throbbing and the sobbing of the melancholy bells._

_The Iron bells meant a sad death for every fairy. The sadness, if only I could not have felt the sadness, then our hope would not have been fading. But then a wondrous light had filled the air. Mother Nature had come to help! Her powers were beyond compare. Those who were not consumed yet, felt their hope and joy growing stronger. A fire fairy ran to the last bells that I've told you about. The Silver bells. The sledges of those bells filled the air, first with silence. But then with shouts of happiness. They usually rang to tell us of the approach of midnight. Letting us know that another happy day will soon come._

_Hear the sledges with the bells, Silver bells. What a world of merriment their melody foretells. How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle in the icy air of night. All the heavens seem to twinkle with a crystalline delight. Keeping time, time, time with a sort of Runic rhyme. From the tintinnabulation that so musically wells. From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. _

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><p><em>The Darkothus faded back into the outreaches of the shield. The bells were restored to their former posts and were never taken down again. Everyone said that Mother Nature had defeated the Darkothus. But very few fairies, including myself, knew the truth. It was the hope and happiness that she brought that saved us from our appending doom. <em>

_We knew the Darkothus is still out there, waiting for another chance to strike. But as long as the Silver and Golden bells still ring throughout the months, years, and centuries, we will be safe. Most of the fairies, today, have forgotten about that dark and fearful day. And why we still have the bells. But it is better that they forget. __Even I still have nightmares. _

_Even though, I cannot see a thing with my blind eyes._

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><p><strong>This prologue is inspired by "The Bells" by Edgar Allen Poe, and the video on YouTube called: "And The Raven Brought Fire," By Betsy Lee. <strong>


	2. Something is Wrong

**Read Return of Mother Nature and Return of Mother Nature Part 2 before reading this story or you will be REALLY CONFUSED. **

**WARNING: CONTAINS LANGUAGE, TRAUMATIC SCENES, A LITTLE BLOOD, GRAMMAR AND SPELLING ERRORS, AWESOME BACKSTORIES, AMAZING PLOTS, INCREDIBLE AND ORIGINAL OC'S, AND EXTREMELY SUSPENSEFUL CLIFFHANGERS! **

**I DON'T OWN RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, AND THOUGH IT MAY SEEM LIKE A TINKERBELL CROSSOVER THING, IT'S NOT. I JUST BORROWED SOME STUFF FROM THE MOVIE. **

**And this one has a surprise OC. Hehehe.**

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><p><strong>295 Years Ago<strong>

* * *

><p><strong> ? POV<strong>

_Darkness._

_That was the only thing I saw. _

_Then I realized my eyes were still closed. _

_I opened them to find that I was in a tree. 'What am I doing in a tree?' I thought to myself. I tried to remember anything that I could, but the only thing that came to me was my name: Jill. I heard excited whispers behind me and turn around to find human sized fairies sitting on giant tree leaves. _

_Each tree leaf had three fairies of the same group, and there were 15 fairy groups in all, so there were 45 fairies here. Each group had differently shaped wings and each fairies was a different color of the group. I tried to stand up only to have my knees buckle underneath me. I felt like I've been running for 6 straight miles. I looked around the tree and realize it was gigantic! It would make the Titanic look like a bath toy! I also saw a mirror and looked at my reflection. __I realized I'm a girl, wearing a makeshift white dress and no shoes. I had warm brown eyes and long chocolate-brown hair that reached down to my mid-back length and have Caucasian skin. And judging by my height, I couldn't be older than 15 years. _

_"Hi there!" Chirped a bright and cheery female voice. I turned around to find a beautiful (no, gorgeous!) young woman fluttering purple heart-shaped wings, lifting her a few feet off the ground. __She was at least in her late teen years with flawless, porcelain skin. She had long curly, red hair that reached the mid section of her back. She wore a pretty purple, prom dress that split down below her knees to let her walk more easily. And she wore silver high heels. _

_"Hello?" I said shyly. Her beauty was just radiant and startling, every blink was like seeing her for the first time. _

_"My name is Aphrodite. Do you remember your name?" She smiled, showing off her snow-white teeth. _

_"Jill, ma'am," I said. She giggled, _

_"There's no need to call me ma'am, call me Rose." She said. Then she snapped her fingers and 15 toadstools appeared around you. Then one fairy from each group came a put a different object on each toadstool. A paintbrush with the theater comedy drama masks, a book with a screwdriver, an egg, a diamond, a rock, a yellow shining orb, a blue shining orb, a tornado, a spear, a flower, a heart, a water drop, a flame, a small misty figure that took the form of a person, and a snowflake. _

_"Walk around and you can find your talent." Aphrodite whispered into my ear. _

_She helped me stand up and she flew over to the heart on one of the mushrooms. I didn't know where to go first so I just took a random direction and I ended up at the diamond. The fairy behind the diamond was a boy. He actually looked like he was carved out of the diamond itself. He had sparkling, amber hair with emerald green eyes and he was wearing a miner's outfit, but he didn't have wings like any of the other fairies. _

_"My name's Garnett. And I'm a Miner fairy, we mine diamonds, jewels, and minerals for other fairies to use." He said. _

_I touched the diamond and it turned back into coal. "Sorry," I whispered to Garnett. "It's okay, it just means you're not a Miner fairy." He said. _

_I moved along to another toadstool, the one with the egg. The fairy behind the egg didn't have wings either. But she had a fox skin tunic (like a cavewoman's outfit) along with the ears and the tail of a fox. It looked really cute on her with her green eyes and red hair. _

_"Hi, I'm Vixen. I'm an animal fairy. We care and help the animals of the world." She said. I touched the egg and it rolled off the toadstool and would've cracked open on the ground if Vixen hadn't caught it in time with her fast paws. _

_I quickly moved on to the flower. The girl there had tinted green skin with strawberry blond hair in a thick braid on the right side of her neck with evergreen eyes. She wore a green, short-sleeved shirt, with short green capris and green shoes with vines along her legs. _

_"I'm Persephone. I'm a Plant fairy, we help the plants grow and spread." She said. _

_The flower on the mushroom was a flower I had never seen before. It had white petals, purple frills that stuck out below green stigmas. I touched the flower's petals and it closed up and wilted. I walked towards the snowflake._

_The boy with the snowflake had short, raven black hair, with alluring crystal blue eyes. He wore a short blue T-shirt, long dark blue pants, and light brown boots. And he has wings that looked like iced snowflakes. _

_"I'm Blaze." He said. His snowy white smile was warm and inviting despite the frost he was causing to spread around him. _

_"I'm a Snow Fairy, we help Jack Frost create winter around the world." He said. _

_'Jack Frost?' I thought to myself. I hesitated when I touched the snowflake. But instead of melting it glowed. It glowed so brightly, the flame and shinning orb looked like they were just tiny specks. _

_Then I was covered in the bright light, and I could feel my outfit and my hair changing. My hair grew to my thighs and it turned white, and as it grew down, it faded into an ice blue ends. My white dress became a sleeveless shirt and ice blue capris. I had white slippers on my feet and when I looked in the mirror, I had rich blue eyes. The snowflake that glowed, became a beautiful necklace on my throat. _

_"We now have the newest member of the Snow Fairies, Jill Frost!" Aphrodite announced. Everyone cheered and clapped for me. _

_Then in the mirror I noticed I had snowflake wings of my own. I fluttered them to make them moved and I was lifted off the ground. I shot up into the giant foliage of the tree and no one tried to stop me, they were cheering me on. I burst through the canopy and saw the sight that would make anyone's jaw drop in awe. Millions of beautiful stars littered the sky. They were so beautiful and glowed in awe at the moon. _

_"Beautiful, isn't it?" A shy voice asks from behind you. You turn around to see a petite girl fairy behind you, sitting on a large leaf. She didn't have wings, but she was very beautiful. _

_She had the longest hair you would ever see, it was midnight blue with little bright, white pinpoints like stars and it reached down to her feet. Her skin was so pale, it was like looking at the moon up close. She had a long-sleeved navy blue top with a matching skirt the reached halfway to her knees and a separate skirt that was loose around her lower body that waved around in the cold winter wind. One side of her bangs covered her left eye, but the right side was clear. And saw the color of her eyes were silver. Then it struck me like lightning._

_"Are you-" I asked before she cut me off. _

_"Yes, I'm blind." She said with a proud smile. _

_"Well, then what are you doing out here?" I asked. She smiled and pointed up to the stars. "I love listening to them twinkle, it's like they're talking to me." She said. _

_I tried listening to the stars, but all I could hear was the wind howling. _

_"What's your name?" I asked. "Starla." She said. _

_"I'm Jill." I said. Then Aphrodite and Blaze popped their heads through the foliage. _

_"Hey, Jill, you ready for a tour of the tree?" She asked. _

_"Uh, yeah, sure." I said. I climbed down the tree branches and we began the tour of the Tree._

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><p><strong>Present Day<strong>

I've made so many friends since that day. And they voted for me to create this years snowflakes for winter! I was so excited I could just burst! I had just put the finishing touches on the last snowflake.

"Gently...ever so gently..." I repeated to myself. "Success!" I cheered as I use my magic to make the paper snowflake become a real snowflake.

"Perfection!" I exclaimed. I gently put the snowflake in a ray with the last remaining snowflakes and placed I in a freezer in my igloo home. I decided to go out and hang with my friends. I was about to reach my front door, when a green light flashed in front of me. I blinked a couple of times to get my eyes straight again. I open my door and nothing seemed different. The snow slowly drifted down on the pine trees and it was the usual arctic temperature for Snowy Falls.

I flew out of my house and made my way to the Tree. The other snow fairies were going about their business, making frost, helping the winter animals change their fur coats from brown to white, putting other animals into hibernation. The usual stuff. As I few past the borders of Snow Falls, some of the other kinds of fairies looked at me strangely. They were giving me rude faces and gestures.

I felt more confused than hurt. Some of these fairies were my friends. I landed on one of the branches of the Tree and I made my way in through one of the holes that led into a hallway. I was about to make a turn when I saw a sign in front of me that made me lose control of my confusion and my frost spread across the entire inside of the branch. The pathway was gated with iron and thorns and the sign said:

_NO SEASONAL FAIRIES  
>ALLOWED IN<br>THE TREE OF LIFE  
><em>_EVER!_

I've taken this pathway over a million times, this is so weird. I was going to turn around when I met up face to face with Athena, our fairy leader.

"What are you doing here?!" She yelled in my face.

She had long curly brown hair in a ponytail that went down to her knees, with light bluish/gray eyes, with Caucasian skin. She wore a long-sleeved, gray shirt with gray capris and gray flats. She had a leather satchel around her and it looked like there was a ton of books in there. Her gray pixie wings fluttered behind her, lifting her one foot off the ground. And on top she wore a gray crown.

"You and other "seasonal" fairies know that none of you are allowed in here!" She yelled. She put the word seasonal in air quotes. She never usually acts like this, even though she has so much pride, but she is never rude!

"Athena, what is happening? Why are you acting like this?" I asked.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes at me.

"Look, I know it's hard for you seasonal fairies to understand, but you can't be inside the Tree. Yours powers would create too much chaos and put everything behind schedule." She flew above and behind me and began to shove me out.

'_Did she just call me an idiot?_' I asked myself.

Then outside the Tree, we heard a blast and a few trumpets. Athena flew ahead of me and out the hole that I came through. Out of curiosity, I followed her to see an odd occurrence. And there has been a lot of odd occurrences at the Tree, but **THIS **is weird.

A sleigh rocketed through a magical portal with two figures flying by its sides. At its reins was an immense man; tall, buff, and a little rotund. He had bright blue eyes, thick black eyebrows, and a long white beard and mustache. He wore a black fur hat, a long red coat with black fur trim, and a red plaid shirt. (I have great eye-sight).

Behind him, clutching to a seat, was a gigantic rabbit that stood between six to seven feet tall, with grayish-blue fur, flower-like imprints on both his forehead and shoulders, and bright green eyes. He wore leather bracers set with orange stones, a single-strap holster with which he carried his boomerangs, and leather wrappings on his feet.

Then next to the giant rabbit, was a short man garbed in an outfit made of gold sand, appearing as a night robe. His hair, vaguely clownish, was golden and short, styled into five points, and glittered like his robe. He also had tiny feet and golden brown eyes.

In the very back of the sleigh was a handsome boy, who had white hair, striking blue eyes, and pale skin. He had a tall stature, albeit slim. His clothing was a blue hooded sweater, with frost collecting around the ring of the collar, and trousers bound with lighter material starting from the knee down to the rather tattered and frayed bottom, and was barefoot. He carried around a magical staff with a G-shaped arch, resembling a shepherd's crook.

He seemed kind of familiar.

Then flying on the right side of the sleigh, was a part human, part hummingbird hybrid. She had tan skin and violet eyes. Instead of hair, she had feathers that made a curved upward style. Instead of clothes, her entire body seemed to be covered in mini feathers. Around her wrists and ankles there seem to be golden lines that seem to look like golden bracelets and golden anklets, as well as gold feathers on either side of her head for earrings. She also had long, drapery feathers that start at her waist line and ended at her knees. They gave the appearance of a skirt or dress.

Then flying on the left part of the sleigh, was a beautiful blond-haired girl with piercing, cat-like, sapphire blue eyes. She had her blond hair in a braid, with a white stripe on the left side of her hair. She had white, small angel-like wings. She wore a short blue Greek chiton with silver Greek sandals, that looked great with her Caucasian skin. She had a quiver of 40 silver arrows strung behind her back. In her hand, she carried a silver bow.

She also looked familiar.

Wasting no time, I flew out of the hole and gathered into the faces of the crowd. They landed and the handsome, white-haired boy was tackled by 50 different fairies. They tried to drag him to who-knows-where, but he froze half of them to get away.

"THOSE CHICKS ARE INSANE!" He shouted as he flew off to Snow Falls with the still unfrozen fairies hot on his tail.

I flew into the air, trying to follow him.

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><p>I flew as fast as my snowflake wings could carry me. I lost sight of the boy and his fangirls, but I knew they were somewhere in the Snow Falls. I looked around in the air for a few minutes before finally spotting them tearing the boy apart as he clung desperately to a tree. Thinking fast, I put on my shrilly voice.<p>

"GIANT FALCON!" I screamed.

The girls immediately stopped tearing at the boys clothing and flew off in a haste. The boy was curled around the tree branch in a fetal position. His clothing was slightly ripped, but he was okay, none-the-less.

"You can open your eyes now," I chuckled.

He peeked through his long eyelashes and scanned his surroundings. He unfolded himself from the tree branch and took a few deep breaths.

"Thanks," he said, "I guess they're really scared of falcons."

"Uh, our falcons are quite huge and they think we are delicious." I said. This boy was so familiar!

He chuckled at my response.

"You may want to get back to your friends, before those girls realize there was no falcon." I told him.

He frowned like he just remembered something important.

"Oh, right." He began to fly, but then stopped and turned to me with a smile on his face.

"The name's Jack. Jack Frost." He said. Then he flew off.

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><p><strong>So, R&amp;R. I love reviews!<strong>


	3. Mordred's Lullaby

**Read Return of Mother Nature and Return of Mother Nature Part 2 before reading this story or you will be REALLY CONFUSED. **

**WARNING: CONTAINS LANGUAGE, TRAUMATIC SCENES, A LITTLE BLOOD, SOME GRAMMAR AND SPELLING ERRORS, AWESOME BACKSTORIES, AMAZING PLOTS, INCREDIBLE AND ORIGINAL OC'S, AND EXTREMELY SUSPENSEFUL CLIFFHANGERS! **

**I DON'T OWN RISE OF THE GUARDIANS!**

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><p><strong><em>Song belongs to Heather Dale. It's called Mordred's Lullaby.<em>**

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><p><em><strong>Meanwhile, in Antarctica...<strong>_

_Our second piece of the puzzle lies within a black, crystal palace, in the heart of Antarctica. _

_Many people would say that the coldest place on Earth would be Antarctica, but I believe that the woman in charge of the palace holds the most freezing environment within her heart._

_That woman would be Discordia._

_She and her "children" live within its crystal walls. The child she favors the most, would be her new son, Mordred. Before she faked her death, she tricked Jack Frost into having a little intimate session with her. __She's as deadly and cunning as she is beautiful. _

_Her son, Mordred, is the spitting image of both of them. He had his mother's raven hair, but without the green highlights. And he has his father's rich, blue eyes and pale skin. Discordia has her uses for her son.  
><em>

_For a whole month, she put an aging spell on Mordred. He aged by one year per day, for sixteen days. Then when he reached sixteen, she stops the aging spell and he was now immune to time. She taught him many things. He knew sixteen years worth of magic and sword fighting skills. And she taught him to hate his father and the Guardians._

_Every night, she would tell her son about how he was conceived with a song. Her siren daughters, the original sirens, Cadence, Melody, and Aria, helped with the chorus._

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><p><em><strong>Discordia:<strong>  
>Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep &amp;<em>  
><em>Carry you down into sleep...<br>_ _Child the darkness will rise from the deep &_  
><em>Carry you down into sleep... <em>

_Guileless son, I'll shape your belief  
><em> _And you'll always know that your father's a thief  
><em> _And you won't understand the cause of your grief  
><em> _But you'll always follow the voices beneath_

_**Sirens:  
><strong>__Loyalty, loyalty,  
>Loyalty, loyalty,<br>_ _Loyalty, loyalty,  
>Loyalty only to me <em>

_**Discordia:  
><strong>Guileless son, your spirit will hate her  
><em> _The flower who corrupt my boyfriend, the traitor  
><em> _And you will expose his puppet behavior  
><em> _For you are the proof of how he betrayed her __loyalty... _

_**Sirens:  
><strong>Loyalty, loyalty,  
>Loyalty, loyalty,<br>_ _Loyalty, loyalty,  
>Loyalty only to me <em>

__**Discordia:**  
>Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep &amp;<em>  
><em>Carry you down into sleep...<br>_ _Child the darkness will rise from the deep &_  
><em>Carry you down into sleep...<em>_

__**Sirens:  
><strong>Loyalty, loyalty,  
>Loyalty, loyalty,<br>_ _Loyalty, loyalty,  
>Loyalty only to me <em>_

_**Discordia:  
><strong>Guileless son, each day you grow older  
><em> _Each moment I'm watching my vengeance unfold  
><em> _For the child of my body, the flesh of my soul  
><em> _Will die returning the birthright she stole_

__**Sirens:  
><strong>Loyalty, loyalty,  
>Loyalty, loyalty,<br>_ _Loyalty, loyalty,  
>Loyalty only to me <em>_

___**Discordia:  
><strong>Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep &_  
><em>Carry you down into sleep...<br>_ _Child the darkness will rise from the deep &_  
><em>Carry you down into sleep... <em>__

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><p><em><em><em>Mordred hated his father. He hated the Guardians. And he hated the cold. His mother would also tell the story of what the Guardians were doing to make him hate them even more. The story she would tell him, was strictly from her point of view:<em>__

___"Mordred, the Guardians are cruel and sadistic. I must tell you this to warn you of their skills and powers. ___

___"The first Guardian is their leader, North. To the children, he is known as Santa Claus. He is an old, yet very muscular and agile man. He has an army of 1,000 yetis and 1,000 elves. He also wields two sharp sabers. He is bloody thirsty and powerful. Be sure to disarm him, if you come across him. He bribes children with gifts, in exchange, they give him power by believing in him. He gives them illusion of false security.___

___"The next Guardian is Bunnymund. He is as ugly and mean as a Pooka comes. He gives the children false hope. Hope for the children that would never come, leaving them in sorrow and pain. He tricky and clever. But his aggressive nature is his weakness. Give him no mercy.___

___"Then there is the Tooth Fairy, or Tooth as she likes to be called. She is very sadistic. She yanks the teeth right from the children and laughs in joy at watching them cry. They don't remember anything because she takes their memories so that she can enjoy the memories herself. ___

___"The Sandman is one of the cruelest of the Guardians. He fools the children into believing that the world will always be nice to them. But then they would wake up in a fool's paradise. He wants them to live in innocence before they wake up and realize that the world is dark, sadistic, and cruel.___

___"Then, there is Mother Nature. But, she likes to be called Artemis. She is as deadly as she is beautiful. She will take your heart, play with it, then break it. She uses others to her own advantage. She is a slut and will kill on sight. Don't ever be fooled by her charm.___

___"Last, but not least, Jack Frost, your father. The little bastard is the worst of them all. He loves having fun, especially with that little slut, Artemis. He raped me after we decided to start dating, and that was how you were conceived. Then he gave me this (points to eye patch) and killed my ex-husband, Pitch Black. He threatened to kill me too if I ever told anyone. If you ask him about remembering how he cheated on Artemis, he will deny it. ___

___"They are all fools. They think they can rule the world and no one would stand up to them. And you know of my birthright, I am the true heir to the throne of the Tree of Life. First it was stolen from me by Solarisa, then by that whore Artemis. But no, no longer will thieves keep us from our true destiny. Because you, Mordred, will avenge me and will secure my rightful place on the throne. You will return my crown. ___

___"You will not fail me!" ___

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><p>I always believed in my Mother's stories. I've never stepped foot outside the crystal palace, but I knew one thing. It was cold outside. And I hate the cold. My father creates the cold and he loves it.<p>

I felt a draft as I was about to fall asleep. I opened my eyes to see that my mother left my window open again. I got up to close it, but then I saw a bright light peaking through the curtains. I have never looked out my window before. Usually I could withhold my curiosity, but the temptation was too strong! I slowly and gently pulled my curtains to the sides and saw a sight I have never seen before.

"Whoa," was all I could say.

There were countless stars! Each one twinkled with it's own beauty. Instead of closing my window, I opened it further. The cold didn't bother me as the howling wind burst into my room, I kept my eyes on the night sky. It was beauty that I saw within the darkness. My entire life, or the past sixteen days, I have only seen to beautiful things, my Mother and my Siren Sisters.

But this...this is something different! My Mother once told me that they're stars. I've studied them for a while, but I've only seen pictures from books. I heard footsteps coming towards my room. I quickly shut my window and my curtains and basically jumped into bed. My mother came in to check on me. Even with my eyes closed, I could still feel her poisonous green eyes piercing into my soul.

She eventually closed the door. I opened my eyes and stared at my curtains for a while, but I didn't want to risk my chances. Despite being my Mother's number 1 son, she can be quite unpredictable. I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

Because tomorrow, I'll will complete my mission at the Tree of Life.

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><p><strong>Uploads will be at least twice a month.<strong>


	4. The Shield!

_**Third Person**_

_"Mother Nature has made it to the Tree of Life." _A voice hissed in the forest on the outside of the shield. It almost sounded like the hiss of a barn owl.

_"Impossible! She was killed when she chose to become mortal!" _Long, metalized fingers scrapped against the tree of the owner of the hissing was perched on.

_"Did thou not hear? That wench named an heir to her powers," _A cloaked figure with blue fire-spitting from his eyes spoke from the shadows.

These three demons were conversing in a forest on the outside boundaries of the shield. These territories were unknown to the fairies because they did not need to travel outside of their home. But beyond the boundaries of the shield, were the lands of demons, monsters, and shape shifters. No fairies or creature of good will would survive out in these badlands for long, because demons and monsters were always on the prowl for food. And shape shifters would often trick the unsuspecting to their doom and take their valuable possessions.

_"The shield has weakened over the past 2 years! And Mother Nature's heir would not know of her mother's actions toward us!" _Hissed the barn owl-like creature, ruffling her feathers in excitement.

_"But the shield is still strong enough to hold us back. We would be wasting our time and energy." _The cloaked figure spat at the owl-like demon for being so foolish.

"Leave that to me!" Chuckled a girl who stood within the safety of the light of the full moon. It was Discordia herself.

_"Discordia, our old friend! How did you get out of your imprisonment?!"_ The metal-fingered figure gasped.

"It's a very long story. Like I said, I will get you inside the shield, and your friends too. But you can't kill her, not yet." Discordia said. The demons groaned at the thought of not being able to kill anyone.

"But just give her a good scare, she needs to know that there will be no place safe enough for her. And I have some business to deal with, concerning her boyfriend." Discordia cackled.

* * *

><p><strong>Artemis<strong>

Athena led us inside the tree, which was amazing! It was so much bigger on the inside. Fairies of every kind flew in and out, carrying projects, scrolls, blueprints an other things. No fairy was the same color. Work tables were floating in midair by magic and fairies were zipping through the air, in and out of rooms. The trunk of the tree was not actually tampered with. It looked and felt natural as I ran my hand along it.

Then we heard a large barking sound. Bunny shrieked and jumped into one of the large holes that formed within the tree trunk. Then a huge, two headed dog with gold fur came barreling in towards me. Its eyes blazed with energy and it pointed it right at me. It charged with full speed, knocking over work tables and sent most of the fairies into a panic. I stood my ground with full force. But it just jumped on me and started licking my face with two tongues.

"_Stamatí̱ste!_" Athena shouted. The two dog heads stopped licking me and looked up obediently.

"_Kathíste!_" Athena point her finger to the ground. The two headed dog got off of me and sat at my side. I stood up and wiped the dog slobber from my face.

"Are you alright?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You know how animals react to me." I answered. Athena looked at me, like she finally realized I was present.

"Strange," She said, "Orthus has never acted like this before. He's usually quite shy."

She inspected my entire appearance. She blinked at me a couple of times when she looked me in the eye. She then snapped out of the trance and gestured for the other Guardians to follow her.

We again followed her but I stopped now and then to help with the fairies clean up. Some would looked at me gratefully, while others looked at me like they were trying to remember something.

She led us down a narrow corridor which led to another set of double doors that led to a huge room, like where council meeting would be held. The other Guardians passed through the room unfazed, but I was stopped by two guards who stepped in front of me.

"Hey! Let me in!" I shouted.

"This is a private section for Intellect Fairies! No authorization to Animal Fairies!" The guard on the right shouted. Jack saw my predicament and came over to help.

"Hey, let her in!" Jack shouted. The guard on the left snapped his red eyes towards Jack. Jack stepped back a little in fear. I didn't want anyone to get hurt, so I played the safe card.

"Jack, just go ahead and stay, I'm going to look around." I said.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll just look around." I gave him a quite kiss on the cheek and went off to look around the Tree.

* * *

><p><strong>Time Lapse<strong>

* * *

><p>The Tree looked so much bigger on the inside. And there were so many rooms, it was like a castle with an indoor maze. But I made mental notes of the directions I went so I wouldn't get lost so easily.<p>

"I wish you'd told me about this, Mom." I said to myself. Then I smelled something, and it smelled like it was old and musty. I followed my nose and the smelled lead me to a blank wall.

'_Is this a joke?_' I thought. I leaned against the wall and I heard a _CCCRRREEEAAAKKK _right before I fell down.

The wall was actually a hidden passage up the Tree. It was dark and the sound of the _CCCRRREEEAAAKKK_ echoed through the hallway. I summoned some light to come from my hand and carefully entered the hallway. It was cold and it kept getting colder as I made my way down the hidden passage. It eventually lead to a winding staircase. The staircase was aged with decay and was rotting with molds. Behind me, I heard the hidden door slam shut. But I would have to worry about that later, I was too curious to care about that.

After what felt like five flights of stairs, I eventually reached a trapdoor. And I had to try six times to open it, but I eventually busted it open. It lead to a private library in a circular room. It was small, but it was large enough to fit twenty people. It only had one window, in the far left corner. I got out of the trapdoor and started to look at the books.

But they were in a language I didn't recognize. One book actually caught my eye. It was hidden on the top shelf and I almost couldn't reach it. I used a little bit of my flight to help me grab it. It looked thick, but it was as light as a feather. It was as big as a paper folder and it's corner's and binding looked like it had dipped in solid gold. I blew the dust off the cover and it said (it the best possible way I could pronounce it):

_Descripta No Sešām Meitām De Natura Mater _

I had no idea what it said, but I knew that it was important somehow. I was about to open it, when I heard a noise. Since there was only one window, there wasn't much light to see the entire room.

"Is someone there?" I asked. I summoned some more light to my hand and shined it around. There was nothing there. I decided it was time to go. I quietly walked over to the trapdoor and crept down the spiral staircase with the book in my hand. _  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Jack<strong>

After Artemis left, Athena started the meeting.

"So, you have no idea why Manny sent us here?" Tooth asked as she flew around.

"No, all he did was say you were coming." She said. She had this intelligent look in her eyes like she was examining each and everyone of us, looking at our weak points.

"Has anything happened before we came here?" North asked.

"No, not really. But there have been reports of creatures coming in through the shield." She replied.

"What shield?" I asked.

"There is a shield that surrounds the boundaries of the Tree. It keeps the good thing in, and the bad things out." Athena said.

"What bad things are there, Shelia?" Bunny asked.

"Well, no one really knows, because no one has been stupid enough to go through the shield. And there is only one map that shows the entire island, but it's been missing for the past 250 years." She answered.

"_So what kind of creatures have been reported?_" Sandy signed.

"Oh, just a few Black-Eyed Children." She said.

"What?" We asked in confusion.

"You've never heard of Black-Eyed Children?" She asked in surprise, but she didn't seem all that surprised. We each shook our heads. Athena snapped our fingers and another fairy came into the room.

"What book do you require, mam?" He asked.

"The Humans Encounters with Black-Eyed Children." She said. The male fairy's face became as white as my hair.

"Y-Yes, mam." He squeaked.

He flew, leaving us alone. But within one second, he returned with a big book. As skinny as he was, I was surprised he could even lift it in the air. He gave the book to Athena and she picked it like it was nothing. But I don't discriminate girls. She opened the book and it magically flipped a few pages until a hologram of two teens popped up.

One was a girl, the other was a boy. They were between the age of 13 or 15. The girl had long black hair with such pale skin. The boy also had pale skin but he had short blond hair. They both wore long jeans and hoodies like mine, but they were black. The most memorable thing about them, was their coal black, soulless eyes. They were hypnotic and paralyzing, in a terrifying kind of way.

"Nobody truly knows what they are. But the humans that know of these things call them demons. They would ask a human, or fairy, to be let in to their home or vehicle or whatever. They appear to be normal kids or teenagers, but no matter what form they take, they will always have those terrifying black eyes." Athena said.

"So has anyone let them in?" Tooth asked.

"Most of the humans turn them away, especially after they get a glimpse of their eyes. They are never the same again. But, the others just see a bunch of teenagers, and they are never seen again," Athena explained, "They only started showing up within the late 20th century. Like something, or someone, has been summoning them-"

There was a sudden knock at the door. Athena closed the book shut, handed it to the assistant fairy, and opened the door.

"Lady Athena, Lord Hermes is at it again." A female voice came from behind the door.

"Ugh!" She groaned and face-palmed herself, and then turned toward us, "Why don't you guys let Persephone here show you around the Tree." She opened the door even further and a single fairy stood in the door.

She had strawberry blond hair, put in to two long braided pigtails. She wore an orange T-shirt with matching orange pants and orange shoes. She had green eyes that looked completely innocent.

"Hi!" She perked. Athena nodded her head one last time.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go punch someone in the face." Athena growled as she zipped out of the room.

"Don't worry, she's not usually violent." Persephone said. We then followed her down the hall to begin our tour.


	5. The Tour Part 1

**Read Return of Mother Nature and Return of Mother Nature Part 2 before reading this story or you will be REALLY CONFUSED. **

**Sorry I haven't been uploading like I promised, but school is out so I'll be free!**

**WARNING: CONTAINS LANGUAGE, TRAUMATIC SCENES, A LITTLE BLOOD, SOME GRAMMAR AND SPELLING ERRORS, AWESOME BACKSTORIES, AMAZING PLOTS, INCREDIBLE AND ORIGINAL OC'S, AND EXTREMELY SUSPENSEFUL CLIFFHANGERS! **

**I DON'T OWN RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, AND THOUGH IT MAY SEEM LIKE A TINKERBELL CROSSOVER THING, IT'S NOT. I JUST BORROWED SOME STUFF FROM THE MOVIE. **

**UPLOADS ARE TWICE A MONTH!**

* * *

><p><strong>Jack<strong>

We were almost at the entrance to the Tree, but Artemis ran into me. I must admit, I wasn't looking where I was going anyway because I was looking at the interior of the Tree.

"Hi!" She laughed. She was covered in cobwebs and dust.

"Why are you covered in cobwebs and dust?" Tooth asked as she helped Artemis up.

"That kind of why I'm in a hurry to talk to you g-" She was interrupted by Persephone.

"Do I know you? You seem really familiar," She got up in Artemis's face.

"I don't believe we've met before. But, uh, I'm Artemis." She held out her hand for Persephone to shake. Persephone shook her hand and smiled brightly, though I saw a slight glint of distain in her eyes.

"Well, you must be new here. I've never seen you around before. You can join us for the tour!" Persephone invited her and she the led the way outside. Artemis stood over by me and secretly handed me an old, fancy styled book.

"Hide this in your pocket." She whispered. I took it a hid it in my hoodie pocket. It surprisingly fit, and it looked like I wasn't even carrying or hiding anything.

* * *

><p><strong>Artemis<strong>

The outside of the Tree was much bigger than you'd think. Though no one has even noticed or recognized me before, I would have to play along and try not to bring attention to myself.

"The Tree of Life, or T.O.L or even just 'The Tree' for short, is where every kind of fairy prepares the up coming of events for Earth," Persephone narrated, "The Tree has been around since the beginning of time and we help out the humans in secret. But before I get to that, you should see the tree first." She walked ahead of us.

It took me a moment to notice that she didn't have any wings. She had tinted green skin, like plant chlorophyll, with an orange T-Shirt and matching orange pants. Her strawberry blond hair was in two, long braided pigtails and she was slightly shorter than Jack. Her leafy green eyes were like round clovers.

"Let's start with Springville, where we prepare the season of Spring. This is where the first of the four Protectors of the Seasons will be found." Persephone explained.

Springville was filled with flora and fauna. The warmth of the sun was like a heating pad. A cool, gentle breeze caused the grass to act like an ocean of green waves. Deer grazed in the meadow among the blooming array of colorful flower petals. You could hear the chirping of newly hatched robins and blue jays. We heard a loud munching sound and turned around to see Bunny eagerly chomping on the grass. He finally noticed us staring at him.

"What?" He asked with his mouth full of grass. Instantly, the bare area where he was munching on, grass had regrown like lightning fast.

"Anyway," Persephone stretched the word, "Blossom is the Protector of Spring, she should be around here somewhere."

"You called?" A British female voice said behind me.

A humanoid rabbit with long gold hair, that matched her brown fur, and a white Roman toga, along with huge green eyes. She was slightly smaller than Bunny, but that didn't stop him from involuntarily thumping his right foot rapidly.

"Ah, yes, this is Blossom, the Protector of Spring." Persephone stood next to the humanoid rabbit.

"And I'm sorry, but I can't stay for long. Athena has requested an audience with me and the other Protectors." She said, before she tapped the ground with her foot and leapt through a hole. Bunny was basically drooling with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"Alright, on with the tour!" Persephone walked back in front of us.

I actual hung behind a little bit, concerned. Why would Athena request an audience with the Protectors and not invite the Guardians? I eventually caught up with the group as they were moving to a different region.

* * *

><p>"Here we are at Plant City!" Persephone announced.<p>

The entire place was almost like Springville, but Plant City was LITERALLY overrun with plants. Vines and roots littered the forest floor in a tangled array of vegetation. The trees were as tall as redwoods, but most of them weren't even redwoods.

Plant fairies were everywhere, but they weren't in much of a hurry. They all had tinted green skin, just like Persephone, but they all had natural clothing on, like the cliché s of bras and underwear made out of vines and leaves.

"This is where I work. My job is to make sure that each and every plant is in prime condition for each season!" Persephone cheered.

She immediately walked up to a large hibiscus that was completely white, no color at all except the yellow stamen. She looked at the colorless flower for a few seconds before tapping the inner petals with her index finger and dragging to the outer rims.

Immediately, color exploded from her finger and followed her until the outer parts. The inner flower had a circle of magenta before fading into a gorgeous purple tie-dye and the rims of the flower looked like they were edged with pure gold.

"Woah." Tooth said as she saw the plants beauty.

"Thanks, I had planned on making Greta some color sooner or later." Persephone blushed. Jack was about to walk up to the flower to get a closer look, but Persephone backed him up.

"I'm sorry, but you can't be around plants." She said.

"Why not?!" Jack sounded a little offended.

"Cold air is bad for the plants, and these plants are for the southern hemisphere, which is where these springtime plants are headed," She said, "Anyway, we should head over to - WOAH!"

She ducked down as about a hundred White-Tailed Deer stampeded towards us. We also ducked down, and I shielded everyone with my wings. Powerful hooves occasionally thudded against my wings, making me flinch in pain. Bruises developed on my wings, but so far nothing was broken.

As soon as the stampede was over, every kind of deer was munching on the plants in Plant City. The plant fairies were in a panic, trying to shoo away the deer and protect their plants at the same time.

"The spring plants!" Persephone shrieked. She ran around and tried to pry the bucks from the plants by their antlers and she tried to push the does away by shoving against them.

"Oh man, Persephone is going to kill me!" A female voice cried. Next to me stood a beautiful female anthromorphic deer. She was kind of like a female satyr, but she had short brown hair with big brown eyes and she had the hind legs of a doe. She had no clothes, but her fur covered her private areas.

As soon as Persephone heard her voice, she growled in her throat.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to control these creatures!" Persephone got up into the female doe's face.

"I don't control them, I train them!" The female deer shot back. "Unlike your do-nothing plants! They grow wherever they want, they don't care about the balance of ecosystems!"

"Well, you trained them alright! We've been working for months on our plants!" Persephone picked up a giant leaf and petted it, as if it were a cat. I noticed that a lot of the deer were eating the plants quite rapidly. In fact, now that I got a good look at them, they were much larger than regular deer and they were a golden color. They were about the size of a Grizzly Bear.

"At this rate, the deer will eat every single plant before nightfall." I said to myself.

Thinking fast and basing my actions on what I know about deer, I gathered a few fruits, specifically: apples, persimmons, and sumac heads. I used a giant palm tree leaf as a makeshift basket and placed the fruit in the leaf.

"Vat are you doing?" North asked me.

"Deer are herd animals, and they love to eat these kinds of fruits," I explained, "And they always follow the dominant male, so wherever he goes, they'll go."

I spotted the hugest male deer in the herd and waved the leaf full of fruit in his face. He sniffed the fruit and tried to eat, but I pulled it away and he tried to follow. I led him off, away from all of the plants, while Persephone and the deer girl were still fighting over the superiority of plants over animals.

One by one, the deer began to follow the dominant buck. I led them into Springville where the grass would regrow itself instantly. Once all the deer were in Springville, I placed the fruits on the ground and stepped away.

After I returned to the Guardians and Persephone, she and the fawn girl were still at it.

"HEY!" I shouted, "I just took care of your problem for you!"

Persephone and the fawn girl looked around to see the deer had left. They were actually quite surprised to see us still standing here.

"Right, um, anyway, on with the tour!" Persephone cheered.

* * *

><p><strong>Jack<strong>

"These are the Summer Lands," Persephone said, "This is where we have summer prepared for Earth. And mostly where everyone can relax and have fun."

Her words rang with truth. A lot of fairies were relaxing and playing in the surf of the saltwater. A lot of fairies were relaxing in beach chairs and getting tanned. Almost every fairy here looked like they were having fun, but a lot of them didn't seem to like mixing with other kinds of fairies. For example, some of the Plant fairies were staying well away from the Animal fairies.

Oddly enough, I should've been passing out from heatstroke, but the heat wouldn't bother me like it usually would on Earth. My ice wasn't covering the shifting sands of the beach scenery, and my feet were able to feel the warmth from the sands.

"Hello, Persephone!" A cheery voice sang out. A gorgeous grown up fairy came fluttering towards us.

She had long, bright red hair and was wearing a purple bikini that showed off a bit of her cleavage. Her skin was so pale and it enhanced her baby blue eyes. She had purple heart-shaped wings on her back, making it look like hearts were popping out of her back.

I have to admit she was . . . attractive.

I also have to admit that I was staring like an idiot.

"Who are they?" She asked. She smelt like fresh jasmine and her voice sounded like an angel.

"These are the Guardians. You know, the ones that Athena had announced were coming." Persephone said it in a slow and mocking voice, as if trying to insult the gorgeous red head.

"I'm Aphrodite." The girl said. She was unfazed by Persephone's rude behavior towards her.

"I'm Back...ER-Jack! My name is Jack." I stuttered.

"Smooth." Artemis whispered to me, before facing Aphrodite, "I'm Artemis, Jack's **girlfriend**!" Artemis clung to my arm and pulled me closer to her.

"Yeah, and these are some...others." I said and weakly gestured to the other Guardians. I heard Artemis growl in her throat and she squeezed my arm tighter. The other Guardians snickered at Artemis's jealousy.

"Don't you have some work to do?" Persephone mocked Aphrodite.

"Oh, right!" Aphrodite's wings popped out and she lifted off into the air, "Later!"

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry, this is so short, but I will have more chapters coming soon!<strong>


	6. Postponed Tour

**Read Return of Mother Nature and Return of Mother Nature Part 2 before reading this story or you will be REALLY CONFUSED. **

**I'm going to have to explain the rest of the Tree later. Because we really need to pick up the pace here.**

**WARNING: CONTAINS LANGUAGE, TRAUMATIC SCENES, A LITTLE BLOOD, SOME GRAMMAR AND SPELLING ERRORS, AWESOME BACKSTORIES, AMAZING PLOTS, INCREDIBLE AND ORIGINAL OC'S, AND EXTREMELY SUSPENSEFUL CLIFFHANGERS! **

**I DON'T OWN RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, AND THOUGH IT MAY SEEM LIKE A TINKERBELL CROSSOVER THING, IT'S NOT. I JUST BORROWED SOME STUFF FROM THE MOVIE. **

**UPLOADS ARE TWICE A MONTH!**

* * *

><p><strong>Third Person P.O.V.<strong>

After Athena stopped Hermes, the leader of the Messenger Fairies, from trying to make it rain fish in Louisiana, again, she summoned the four Protectors of the Seasons.

"It can't be her," A humanoid fawn said, "She just can't be."

The Protectors of the Seasons were gathered in the meeting hall. The humanoid fawn was none other than Aurelia, the Protector of Summer. The same fawn that Artemis had met when she lost the elks in Plant City, and the one whom she helped with her deer problem.

"She right. The girl just seemed like any other Animal Fairy to me." Blossom leaned against a table. Blossom was, of course, the Protector of Spring. She was also a humanoid rabbit, with tanned fur, big green eyes and long gold hair that reached all the way down to her back. And she was dressed in a white Roman toga with gold trimmings and a gold belt, with the classic shoulder drape.

"Look, I know it seems crazy, maybe even impossible, but I think she may be the one from the prophecy." Athena argued against the two Protectors.

"Athena, that prophecy written as a poem for children. And that girl is just a new fairy." Khione, the Winter Protector declared. She was a pure silver Timber Wolf, and she was the only other Protector without clothes, besides Otulissa the Barn Owl Protector of Autumn. "And winter will be is coming up soon, I need to make sure that the preparations for the Snow Fairies safe journey to Earth are in check!"

"Remember the what the first line of the Prophecy said: _Hair of blond, And stripe of white, Born as a sister, To day and night,_" Athena looked out the window in the Tree's trunk.

Otulissa had perched herself on an outgrowing limb. She was keeping to herself because if she exposed the girl for who she really was, she knew it cause a riot. Athena took note of Otulissa's silence, suspecting that there was something that she wasn't telling the rest of the group.

In this realm, Otulissa was had the legs, face, and the wings of a barn owl, but her torso and head were a different story. Her hair was a gorgeous reddish-brown color with reached down to her lower back. Her torso was that of an average teenage girl with a simple brown shawl. Her eyes were dark and she had a human mouth, but instead of a nose, she had an owl's beak.

"Look, it's getting late," Blossom said, before glancing at Athena, "And we all know how you get when everyone forgets their curfew."

Athena sighed, "Fine, go! But this is not over."

The Protectors of Spring, Summer, and Winter walked out the door. Otulissa stayed behind and flew down to Athena's side as she stared out the window.

"I know there's something that your keeping to your self." Athena said. Her gray eyes flickered at all the fairies who were returning to either the tree, or their original boundaries. Her eyes were intimidating, like she was thinking of the best possible way of taking you down before she can stab you in the back.

"Yes," Otulissa confirmed, "I know that she is the one that the Prophecy spoke of."

"Why didn't you say anything?!"

"You know that law you passed the day Mother Nature abandoned her position."

"..."

"What? What's wrong?"

"I know you're going to think I'm crazy; but I think I know that girl." Athena paced around the circular room.

"How?"

"*_Sigh_* It's complicated. But trust me when I say "_I think I know her_"."

"So, what are we going to do about her?"

"For know, nothing. She is oblivious to what the future of what this Tree holds. Let's just keep an eye on her."

"Are you sure? You don't want to talk her?"

"Of course I do, but Artemis has to figure this out for herself."

* * *

><p><strong>Artemis<strong>

After the first part of the tour was over, Persephone showed us to our rooms. The sky was getting dark, and I could see pale, petite fairies flying up into the sky. They carried buckets of glowing, white dust.

We went back into the Tree where we were all brought to the top floors, where they strangely had rooms prepared for all of us.

North had the first room on the left of the corridor, with the Russian theme. Bunny had the one across from him, it had a nest with a bunch of eggs surrounding it. Sandy got a room next to Bunny's, and it had nothing in it, of course he was sure to create something to sleep on. Tooth had the one across from Sandy's, and basically it looked like a dentist's office.

Jack had the last one at the end of the corridor. When he opened it, the room was entirely made of ice! Either that or it just looked really shiny.

"Uh, sorry Artemis. We didn't know you'd be coming with the Guardians," Persephone apologized, "Maybe you can share with someone?"

"I can just share with Jack," I said, turning towards Jack, "That's okay right?"

"Yeah, that's fine, I guess." Persephone gave us both a look, before going back to the elevator and going down to her room.

Jack and I both sat on the bed. The room was freezing cold, and yet I didn't feel a thing. It was actually quite comfortable. Their was a large window that had a great view of Snow Falls, the entire room had a silvery glow from the moonlight.

"It's kind of weird that they had these rooms all prepared." Jack said.

"Well, Athena did say that Manny told her that we were coming." I pointed out. Then Tooth poke her head in through the door.

"Are you ready for us?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, come on in." I said. Jack gave me the book I asked him to hide earlier.

"So, vat was it that was so important you needed to talk to us?" North walked in.

"This." I said holding out the large book.

"_Descripta No Sešām Meitām De Natura Mater_," Tooth tried to read the title, "I've never heard of this language."

"That's why I thought it was so important." I said. North and Bunny studied the book in detail.

"It looks like Latin." Tooth said.

"No, that's Greek." Bunny argued.

"_It must be Roman!_" Sandy spelled out. As the other Guardians argued over what language it was, Jack and I glanced at each other and almost started laughing.

"HEY!" Jack shouted. "Why don't we try opening the book and see if any of us can read it." The Guardians stopped their bickering and looked down at the book before agreeing. But an entire new argument erupted when North couldn't open the book.

"What do yah mean yah can't open it?!" Bunny exclaimed. "Give it here!" Bunny took the book and tried forcing it open. It was as if it was magically bound to stay closed.

It was Sandy's turn to try an open it. He fashioned a crowbar out of his Dream Sand and tried to pry it open by jumping on the crowbar with all of his weight.

"Alright, give it here!" I said out of frustration. I studied the front cover of the book. Then, I noticed a clasp on the book that was connected to a flat lock on the front of the book.

"It looks like it just needs a key." I said.

"That does not look like any keyhole I've ever seen." North said.

He was right, in fact it didn't even look like a keyhole. It was slightly oval shaped with a sort of green spiral design inside of the shape.

"It looks like a thumbprint." Jack said.

Out of curiosity of what he said, I stuck my thumb into the weird keyhole. Immediately the clasp unlocked and the cover of the book flew open. The paper looked ancient, but it wasn't crumbled or wrinkled. Heck, it looked brand new.

The writing looked just like the words on the cover.

Unreadable and unrecognizable.

"Well, that didn't help much." Tooth muttered. It was either to herself or out loud, but either way everyone heard her.

I flipped through some of the pages and tried to find something that we could at least translate. I didn't find anything like that, but I did find a few pictures. They were sort of in black and white, but I could at least see them clearly.

The first picture showed a beautiful girl with long hair. It must've ben shiny, because it looked like it was reflecting the light. Her eyes were large and round. She had a long dress that would've trailed behind her. On her head, she wore a headpiece; a horned disc to represent the sun, or a curved band of points to represent rays. She seemed so friendly and warm, like she could cheer just about everyone up.

"Who is that?" Jack asked. I realized that the other Guardians were right behind me and were also staring at the picture.

"She looks like a princess." Tooth said.

"I think is a princess." I said. I pointed to the caption below the picture. There was one word in Latin that I recognized, '_Filia_'.

_Princess_.

"I think that's Solarisa." I said.

"What makes you say that?" Bunny said.

"Well, her name is right there." I pointed to the italicized word: _Filia Solarisa_.

"_Why would her picture be in this book?_" Sandy signed.

I took another look at the cover. Natura Mater, what would that mean? The writing changed when I flipped to a few more sections. It was longer and a bit thinner. There were drawings of leaves and flowers with notes about agriculture ideas.

The next picture showed a lightly tanned skinned girl wearing a lily pad outfit that was a short, sleeveless dress. Along with the gown, were gloves for gardening, gardening shoes to match, and a lily pad tiara to top it all off. With this outfit, her hair was pinned in an updo bun. In her hands was a bejeweled Cornucopia that was filled with different fruits and vegetables.

"I think this is a diary." Jack said.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Look, the writing style changes when you look closely." He pointed out as he compared to pages.

"Guys, I think I found the Diary of the Original Children of Mother Nature." I said.

* * *

><p><strong>Jack<strong>

After that mad scramble, Artemis and I finally spent some time together.

I convinced her to sneak out of the room with me through the window, but she was worried we might get caught.

We were lying together on one of the giant leaves of the Tree. My frost spread all over the leaf. The night was beautiful, the stars were so different here than they are on Earth. Here, they were alive and pulsing, as if they were trying to talk to you. The sky behind them was so much darker.

I looked down at Artemis as we were huddling close together. She wasn't smiling like she was earlier, she seemed sort of distant.

"You okay?" I rubbing my hand over her arm.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." She said, sort of dryly.

"Is something wrong?"

She sigh before sitting up. "I keep getting this feeling that something isn't right. It's like. . . . things are not what they're supposed to be around here."

"You're probably just a little tired. You haven't slept in weeks." Since she had taken on her role as the Guardian of Creativity, she has been working none stop. I was starting to worry about her.

"No, I mean, no seems to realize who I am! My M- Er, the first Mother Nature created this place; don't you think they would've at least recognized a little bit of me." She said, and she stared into the east; towards the Summer Lands. "I know it sounds selfish; but what's the point in being me, if. . . ." She trailed off.

"If no one likes you for what you do?" I finished for her. She smiled a little. I loved seeing her smile. I decided to take her someplace so we could have some fun.

"Come on! I'm taking you somewhere where you can have some fun." I pulled her off the leaf and basically pulled her through the air before she began flapping her own wings.

**A few minutes later...**

"Can I open my eyes now?" She asked.

"Not yet." I wasn't done freezing the lake at the snowy biome. It was already frozen when we got there, but I wanted to thicken it. "Alright. Open 'em"!

She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw the frozen lake. While she was distracted, I tapped some of the snow near her, and created some ice skates around her feet. She looked down at her feet, and then looked at me, finally seeing what I had in mind.

"If you let me fall," She threatened playfully, "You'll never hear the end of it."

"You really need to stop being cute, you're gonna kill me," I smiled. She pushed down her fears and stepped onto the ice; stretching out a hand towards me. She slowly slid forward as I began to pull her.

"That's it, you're doing great, Artemis," I chimed.

"That's good," Artemis started, shaking a little, but then regaining her balance, "'Cause I'm really just trying not to fall on my ass right now."

"Ha ha, well lets see if you can keep upright if I let your hand go,"

"Oh, okay- w-wait your gonna what?" She stammered nervously.

"Don't worry, you're not gonna fall, but I'm gonna let go on the three, okay?"

"Uh, I don't know about that, I'm having a hard time keeping my balance even with holding onto you."

"One."

"Jack, come one."

"Two."

"Wait, no! Jack! I said no!"

"Three."

"JACK!" She yelped as I released my hand and she stumbled backwards.

She close her eyes, expecting to slam into the ice, but instead she noticed a pair of cold, but familiar arms wrapped around her waist. She looked up to see my smiling face.

Her short blue chiton shuffled around just above her knees. Her blond haired and white stripped braid whipped around behind my neck. Goosebumps rose up on her fair skin as I continued to guide her around the frozen lake.

"Did you really think I'd let you fall?" I teased. I propped her back up and let go of her again. Artemis scrunched down and held out her arms, expecting to fall again, but she got her balance.

"It's not funny!" She shrieked. Her anger made her lose her balance and she slipped. Thankfully, she fell into a snow bank.

"Are you alright?!" I couldn't stop my chuckling as I helped her up.

"No!" She said as she threw a fist full of snow at me. But I knew she wasn't angry because she was laughing her head off. Her skates were off and she was standing near the forest with a few snowballs in her arms.

"Oh, it's on, now!"

* * *

><p><strong>Artemis<strong>

We ran through the snowy forests, throwing and dodging snowballs.

"You can run, but you can't hide from me!" I heard Jack shout. I spotted his figure perched on a tree branch above me. Taking one of my snowballs, I aimed and fired.

"Bullseye!"

Only, it wasn't him.

It was a pile of snow that he shaped to make it look like him. The head of the snow statue fell off when my snowball hit it. And I realized I just gave away my position.

I was pelleted with snowballs from my left side and tripped over a root.

"Found you!" Jack laughed.

"That was pretty smart." I said. He flew down in front of me and held out a hand. I gave him one of my fun, innocent smiles and took his hand. . . .

And pulled him straight into the snow with me!

"But, not that clever." I laughed.

We both began laughing our heads off before we went into a long kiss. I just wanted that moment to last for ever. I was in heaven, for that small little moment, I felt pure bliss.

Then we heard the branch break.

"Who's there?" Jack shouted. We both stood up and armed myself. Jack summoned a little light to his staff and I summoned my sword to my hands. Summoning my weapons was getting easier for me.

We stood back to back, searching for who or what made that noise.

Then something rushed past us. Then on our other side.

We heard a shrill noise, like a bat with a cackling habit.

Jack suddenly grabbed my arm, "Don't turn around." He whispered.

But of course, I turned around to see what he was staring at.

After adjusting to the dark for a half second, I was able to see what caused the strange reaction. At least 20 feet away from Jack, sitting and facing away from us, was what appeared to be a naked man, or a large hairless dog of some sort. Its body position was disturbing and unnatural, as if it had been hit by a car or something.

For some reason, I was not instantly frightened by it, but more concerned as to its condition. It was so skinny and frail looking, I could see its bones right through its skin. At this point, I didn't know what to make of the creature.

It sounded like it was gnawing on a bone.

Then, after a few intense minutes, it lifted its head and turned towards us.

It had pure white eyes. But no iris, no pupil, nothing.

Just white.

That's when I knew that I needed to be scared.

"Artemis, when I say go, I want you to fly back to the tree." Jack said quietly and slowly. But I was unresponsive. I couldn't do anything, my body wouldn't respond. So much adrenaline was pumping through me, I was almost ready to pass out.

"GO!" Jack charged the creature.

I stayed frozen and motionless. My breathing turned into panting. '_Move! That thing is going to kill you!_' A voice in my head said. My feet felt like they were covered in cement. As Jack came closer to the creature, the thing itself began to dissolve, before finally vanishing in a cloud of smoke before Jack could hit it with his glowing staff.

Jack looked around, confused for a moment before turning towards me.

"Why didn't you run?" He asked, his voice full of concern.

"I...I" I stuttered. He touched my skin and I snapped out of my trance. "Wha-What?"

"I told you to run, and you didn't. It was like you were in shock." He said. He looked at me with worry.

"Let's just go back. It could still be here." I said.

* * *

><p>We didn't talk much after we got back to Jack's room. We just went right to sleep. Jack put up some pillow barriers between us, so no one would get any weird thoughts in their heads.<p>

I tried pushing the creature to the back of my mind. But it just kept coming back. Eventually, fear began to cloud my mind. The sight of pale, hairless flesh sliding along the ground, and the gruesome sight of misshapen limbs scrambling over each other.

Eventually, the exhaustion from the adrenaline caused me to fall asleep.

* * *

><p><em>Everything was dark. <em>

_I couldn't even see my own hands. _

_I kept looking forward; not knowing what to look for. _

_Then I came across a small house. Not knowing why; I started walking into the house. _

_'Stop!' A voice called out. 'Don't go in there!'_

_I didn't stop. I kept going. Once I was in the house, I walked into the highest room upstairs. Chairs were knocked over on the floor, sofas and furniture were covered in cloths. A single open window was the only other thing in the room. _

_"Look at your future." A sultry voice said behind me. I obeyed and looked out the window. __It the outside of the Tree of life. But, it wasn't what it looked like earlier._

_A strange black ooze with a purplish outline was shifting around the big Tree. Fairies were running away from the ooze. Screams and yells echoed throughout the entire place. _

_"This is your future!" The voice said. A crown was magical placed upon my head and a royal cape was placed over my shoulders._

_Then, a plant fairy tripped with her baby in her arms as a huge tidal wave of the black ooze towered over her threateningly. _

_"Why has she abandoned us?!" She cried out. The black ooze swallowed her whole. Dead bodies were scattered everywhere. _

_"Long live the Queen!" The sultry voice cackled. _

_"_NOOOOOOO! I'M NOT MY MOTHER!_" I screamed. _

_I pulled off the crown and threw it out the window and threw the cape on the ground. _

_The house disintegrated around me. I was left in the black void. _

_Then the ooze with the purple outline towered over me. It dove down on me. _

_"_NOOOOOOO!_" I screamed. _

_I couldn't breathe when I was covered in the black ooze. I was suffocating. I tried to wake up, but I couldn't. I covered my mouth and nose from the ooze, but nothing was touching it. _

* * *

><p>I opened my eyes.<p>

I still couldn't breathe.

And that was because I was laying face down on my pillow.

I quickly sat up and took deep breaths. It was so weird. I would never get nightmares like this.

I slipped out of the bed and walked up to the window.

Moonlight was shining through. The ice covered room sparkled like a blanket of diamonds under the moonlight. I stared into the night sky, a cocktail of deep indigo's. The shiny full moon beamed down onto the snowy scene below. Trees frosted with snowflakes and the ground was carpeted with a thick layer of white. The snowy carpet shimmered like glitter under the thousands of diamonds that shone brightly in the sky.

It was the setting of Snow Falls. I tried to remember the feeling of that bliss and happiness that I had when Jack took me there. But the thought of that . . . creature came to my mind.

I looked up at the moon, more specifically, Manny.

"The least you could tell me is why I was chosen to be her heir. I never asked for any of this." I said to him. I knew he wouldn't answer. The only time he talked to me was when he told me to go the Guardians after Bunny tried to kidnap me again.

Behind me, I heard a horrible sound of hissing.

I didn't need to turn around. I knew the creature was behind me.

But of course, I turned around.

My entire life flashed before my eyes. It was considerably short, despite everything that I've been through.

It was on Jack's side of the bed. It was between me and him, I was defenseless and unable to call for help without getting sliced in half with its metal Freddy Krueger claws. Then I remembered my sword. I summoned my sword and steadied it. But I didn't think I could kill this thing.

I took a step back till I was up against the window sill. The creature took a step forward with its horrible feet.

"Jack!" I whispered.

He didn't stir.

"Jack!" I tried a little more loudly.

The creature hissed, probably telling me to '_Shut up so I can slice 'n dice you_'.

Chills went up and down my spine. Those white eyes. They were so hypnotic, it was like they were drawing me in. It lunged and I swung my sword. I closed my eyes and hoped for the best, when I heard the sound of crackling ice.

I waited for the pain of the metal claws to skewer me, but it never came.

I peeked through my eyelashes to see a frozen metal claw, merely inches from my face.

"Are you alright?" Jack asked. He stood up with his staff aimed at the creature.

"Yes, just terrified." I joked. I couldn't tell if the creature was alive or dead, but at least it couldn't get me. Wait, I remember something about this thing.

White eyes...

Long limbs...

Creepy posture...

And wants to terrorize people...

"Jack . . . I think this is The Rake!"


	7. Author's Note Please Read!

**Hey guys, I know you guys wanted this to be a chapter, but I have some things that I need to explain for the next few months:**

**1. School starts like TOMORROW and I'm seriously nervous. I might not be able to upload as much as used to be able to. I'm going into 11th grade! **

**2. My creativity is running seriously dry, I'm trying out new things to get it back up. I have more than one fanfic that my very loyal followers are deman-I mean, asking me to upload more. But you people have to understand that I have life too! **

**3. My dA page (link is on my fanfiction . net profile page) is taking much more of my time. I'm trying to even things out. **

**4. My life is being slow and boring so far, so that's what's causing my creativity to drop. **

**5. I will try to upload as much as possible! If my chapters are sloppy and/or crappy, that means I'm being hurried and/or stressed, so that's my fault, not yours. **

**Now, I have posted this on multiple chapters of my fanfics, so I'm not naming any certain stories that I have.**

**So, if there are any chances I get of uploading, I will. So I will be on here, just not as often. **

**SO EVERYONE CALM THE F*CK DOWN! **


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